Container



Oct. 19, 1943.

w, A. CLANON CONTAINER Filed April 10, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l ,2; 2, W 2% 3% m M, am m al'llllllIlllllfl d.

Oct. 19, 1943 w. A. CLANON 2,332,205

GUNTAINER Filed April 10, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet '2 Patented 19,

UNITEDJASTATES PATIENT oFFicE' 2.332.205

-Wiiliam a. Clarion, Detroit, Mich, assignor to The American Paper Bottle Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application April 10, 1941, Serial No. 387,952

Claims. (01. 229-11) It has heretofore been suggested that liquids, even perishable food products such as milk, might advantageously be put up and distributed in 7 paper containers. Various paper containers for liquids have appeared upon the market, and one, which has been found to be eminently suitable for this purpose, is disclosed and claimed in Patent No. 2,047,891, granted July 14, 1936,'in the v name of Henry T. Scott.

The container which comprises the subjectmatter or the patent just referred to is oi tubular type. being square in horizontal cross section, has a flat bottom and a top closure which includes opposed inclined panels terminating in a central transverse rib, giving the top '0! the container when closed the appearance of a.gabled structure.

The container, in the process of iab'rication, is first made into the form of a tube. Its bottom is then closed, a leak-prooflngsubstance applied as acoating to all exterior and interior surfaces, the liquid charge introduced throughthe open upper end, and this ioldable upper end then closed,

sealed and stapled. The contents or the container may be withdrawn by reversing the closing operation; i. e., opening the entire upper end or the container, but, for the convenience or the consumer, it has been suggested that a pouring opening be provided toward the top of the con- 1 talner which is closed only by a readily displaceable closure means, the consumer being thereby enabled to quickly open the container for the purpose of withdrawing all or any part of its liquid content, without finding it necessary-to completevention relates particularly to the pouring or ly unfold the upper-end closure. The present inliquid discharge means of such a paper container as that above briefly referred to and its object is to provide an improved pouring construction which include a pouring spout or extensible and retractable nature. It will be appreciated that in pouring liquids, better control of the direction and volume of the stream of discharging liquid can be had where a pouring spout is available. In the case of the paper container, however, the pouring spout shouldbe retractable and so conmanufacture of containers iorliquids having difierent characteristics.

In the drawings: Figure l is a plan view of a blank from which the container is fabricated; 1

Figure 2 is a plan view of the upper portion of this same blank a seen from the reverse side;

Figure 3 is a section on line 3-lof Figure 2: Figure 4 is a perspective view of the upper portion or the charged and sealed container, as it" reaches the consumer; 1 w Figure 5 is a similar view but showing the container opened for removal of all or any portion of its liquid content, the pouring spout being on tended;

Figure 6 is a and Figure 7 is a section on line 1-1 of Figure 5.

section on line of Figure 5';

The blank from which the container is iabricatedis generally indicated at llzand it is unnecessary here to describe allidetails of this blank inasmuch as these details are disclosed in the patent previously referred to and may also beconsiderably varied without departure from the present invention. It may be mentioned, however, that the blank is divided by score lines, such as indicated at ll, into a considerable number of relatively ioldable panels. 0! those panels, those indicated at a, b, c and. d are rectangular and 30 comprise the four side wall panels of the completed container, those indicated by the letters: e, f, g and h arethe bottom'flap panels, andall oi the panels disposed above the scored lines s, -s' are top panels which may be relatively folded in order to form the gabled or peaked container top closure shown in-Figures 4, 5 and 6. Of these top panels, only two need be specifically mentioned, i. e., the rectangular panels k and l which formthe upwardly and inwardly inclined or slopstructed that, when a portion. only oithe liquid 7 content of the container is discharged at any one time, the' pouring covered and protected against contamination.

' In the accompanying drawings, one embodispout may be retracted and V ment 0! the invention is illustrated by way of I example. It will be v ppreciated that minor changes in the design and arran ement of its componentelements may be enacted without departure irom the invention, in the design and ample, the pouring openin is formed in the panel 1. 7

It will be observed, however, from an inspection of Figures 2, 3 and 6 particularly, that the panel 1 is reiniorced by a backing sheet or member m, this backing sheet at being rectangular as shown most clearly in Figure 2, and being secured in the position in which it is shown in this figure while the blank "I is flat and before any steps have been taken to fabricate-it into the form of the.

tubular container. By reason of the attachment to the container blank of the backing sheet m, at least a portion of this blank is of double thickness, or comprises two plies. It may be said here, however, that, in order to obtain this desirable two-ply construction, a backing sheet or second thickness of paper may be attached to the original blank in any one of a number of positions. The sheet m, for instance, may be attached to either side of the container blank although preferably to that surface which is ultimately to become the inside surface of the container. It

may have the form of a separately cut sheet such I as that indicated, or it may be originally an integral part of the blank ill and so folded in the fabrication of the blank that it underlies and is attached to some other portions of the blank. While the details of formation .of the two-ply zone or area of the container are relatively unimportant, 'it is essential that there be two plies at the point where the auxiliary pouring means is to be provided.

Thus, from the inner ply, there are struck or incised several panels which together comprise an extensible and retractable pouring pout and, from the outer ply, there is struck or incised a panel, or two hingedly connected panels, which functions as a covering tab for .the pouring spout and a means for eifecting extension and retrac tion of the spout without requiring the consumer to touch the spout' either with his hands or with any instrument.

From an inspection of Figure- 2 of the drawings, it will be seen thatfthe pouring spout is defined by a series of straight and-curved incisions, indicated at l3, ll, IS, IS and I1, inclusive, completely severing the spout from the sheet m save along the straight line |8--| 9, which line is weakened as by scoring and comprises the hinge connection between the pouring spout and the remainder of the sheet m. The incised pouring spout is divided into three panels by the score lines l8-20 and l9--2|, a central panel 22 which tapers upwardly or away from the hinge line i8-l9 and two similarly shaped side panels 24 and 25 hingedly connected to the panel 22 along the score lines 18-40 and |9- 2l, previously referred to. Of these three panels 22, 24 and 25, the central panel 22 is intended to form the bottom of the pouring spout and the lateral panels 24 and 25, the sides or liquid confining panels of this spout.

The pouring spout just described, and which is struck from the inner ply m of the container, di-

rectly underlies the covering tab which is struck from the outer panel 1, this covering tab being defined by a series of aligned incisions extending from a point 3! to a second point 32, the bridging elements or uncut portions 33 intermediate the ends of the incisions 30 serving to tie the covering tab in its normal or original position in the panel 1 until broken, after which the covering tab maybe displaced outwardly and downwardly by swinging the same about theuncut but scored portion at the base of the tab, indicated by the dotted line 3l32, which portion comprises a hinge. The hinge line 3l-32 of the covering tab directly overlies the hinge line l8l9 of the pouring spout so that the covering tab and the bottom panel 22 of the pouring spout may be secured together for simultaneous coextensive movement about their respective hinge lines. A securing staple is indicated at 35 in the drawings but any suitable device for attaching these two members may be substituted for the staple, adhesive being useful if a sufliciently good bond of attachment may be obtained. It will be 'away at 38 so that the consumer may have ready access to the free end of the covering tab and can lift this tab by means of his finger-nail, the end of a knife, or other such instrumentality. It will be appreciated that, when the container is in closed condition as illustrated in Figure 4, the coating material which has previously been applied will fill the various incisions and render the container entirely leakproof. This seal is, of course, broken when the container is opened, but prior to deliberate opening of the container, there is no possibility of leakage.

When the-consumer desires to remove all or any portion of the liquid content of the container, he will, asv aforesaid, insert an instrument into the space above the free end of the covering tab and will lift this tab, severing the bridging ele-, ments 33, the outer panel of the tab being first lifted and then the inner or lower panel, the

outer panel being readily grasped between the thumb and forefinger so that a considerable pull may be exerted on the lower or inner panel, to which panel, of course, the bottom panel 22 of the pouring spout is attached. The tension thus applied will draw the bottom panel 22 through the opening in outer panel I which has been left by the removal of the covering tab and will likewise draw partially through this opening, the lateral or side panels 24 and 25 of the pouring spout, these lateral or side panels being inwardly and upwardly rocked about hinge lines l8-20 and l9-2t, respectively, into the substantially vertical positions in which they are shown in Figures '5, 6 and 7, in which positions they serve to laterally confine a stream of liquid which may be passing over the pouring spout bottom panel 22. It will be observed that these side panels of the pouring spout forwardly converge, which tends to promote efdciency in the pouring operation.

After so much of the liquid has been removed from the container as is desired by the consumer, the covering tab and pouring spout are replaced within the container, the side or wing walls of the pouring spout tending to assume their original positions and the covering tab being forced to its original position, in which position it is retained by the locking action of the lateral panels of the pouring spout. Additional means may be provided if desired to cause the covering tab to remain in its original position when replaced after opening, as by undercutting its edges, as it is important that the pouring spout be covered and protected against contact with any contaminating substance.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed 'as new and desired to be secured by Let ters Patent is:

l. A container for use in the storage, transportation and dispensing of liquids such as milk, said container being fabricated of sheet paper and at least one wall portion thereof being two plies in thickness, the inner ply of such wall portion being incised to provide a panel which may be downwardly and outwardly displaced to form the bottom of a pouring spout and side panels hingedly connected to the lateral edges of said bottom forming panel, the outer ply being in cised to provide a-tab which may be downwardly and outwardly displaced to uncover an access spout is extended when the tab is displaced,. said side panels normally underlying the outer ply and being moved into liquid confining position by contact with the edges of said access opening when the tab is displaced and the spout extended.

2. A container for use in the storage, transportation and dispensing of liquids such as milk, said container being fabricated of sheet paper. and at least one wall portion thereof being two plies in thickness, the inner ply of such wall portion being incised to provide a panel which may be downwardly and outwardly displaced to form the bottom of a pouring spout and side panels hingedly connected to the lateral edgesof said bottom forming panel, thebottom forming panel tapering outwardly and the side panels being connected to the edges of said bottom forming panel by outwardly converging scored portions, the outer ply being incised to provide a' tab which may be downwardly and outwardly displaced to uncover an access opening, and means being provided to connect the bottom forming panel and tab whereby the spout is extended when the tab is displaced, said side panels normally underlying and being disposed parallel to the outer ply and being moved into liquid confining position by contact with the edges of said access opening when the tab is displaced and the spout extended.

3. The container set forth inclaim 1 in which the tab and spout forming bottom panel are interconnected by a staple or the like securing device.

4. The container set forth in claim 1 in which the tab is divided by a transverse scoring into two relatively ioldable panels, that panel which is hingedly connected to the container body being secured to the spout bottom panel and the other panel of the tab comprising a handle to be grasped by a consumer.

5. The container set .forth in claim 1 in which the tab is divided by a transverse scoring into two relatively foldable panels, that panel which is hingedlyrconnected to the container body being secured to the spout bottom panel and the other panel of the tab comprising a handle to be grasped by a consumer, said last mentioned panel projecting a substantial distance beyond the end of the spout bottom panel, for the purpose set forth.

WILLIAM A. CLANON. 

